Managing Allergen Risk: Best practices to avoid allergen contamination in food manufacturing

A staggering 40% of all food product recalls are linked to the mismanagement of allergens, a situation that continues to put consumers at risk and damage food and beverage brands. So, what can food manufacturers do to reduce this occurrence?

In this episode, our host Patrick McNamara of Intertek Global Food Services, along with Deborah Matthews and Heather Hayward from Intertek Business Assurance explore:

• What should be considered in terms of allergen management and what does good look like?
• Where do manufacturers have the most control to put processes in place?
• What are the areas of failure and how might they be prevented?

Speakers:

• Patrick McNamara – Global Innovations and Quality Manager, Intertek Food Services
• Deborah Matthews – Business Development Manager, Intertek Business Assurance
• Heather Hayward – Technical Consultant, Intertek Business Assurance

Download our complimentary ebook to learn what a food allergen is, how to test for allergens in food, and the UK and EU Regulations for allergen labelling. Download here!

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Transcript

Podcast-20250612_131129-Meeting Recording 

12. Juni 2025, 12:11PM 

18 Min. 45 Sek. 

 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek Transkription gestartet 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   0:07
Well, welcome to everyone tuning in today to the latest in this series on the issue of food allergens. Now one of the more worryingly familiar statistics in the reporting of food issues is that around 40% of global product recalls are linked to mismanagement of allergens. And for anybody who's still unfamiliar with how the UK fares against this metric.
Take it from me. The proportion here is very very similar.
We also know that the resultant risk, every stage of the food production process and the greater risks may come from those where food business operators have the least control or visibility. But what of the areas where they have the most control? The production sites that they manage, the processes they put in place?
What are the areas of failure and how might they be prevented? What should be considered in terms of allergen management and what does good look like?
So to turn on the big light in the warehouse of knowledge I have with me today, business development manager Deborah Matthews and technical consultant Heather Hayward, both from Intertech business assurance. Welcome to you both. Thanks for joining me. 
Deborah Matthews  Intertek   1:26
Thank you. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   1:26
Thanks for having us. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   1:28
You're very welcome. So, Heather, if I could turn to you first in terms of food manufacturing and allergens management, what does could look like? What do best practises look like in that context? 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   1:43
Well, so the best practises involve systematic approach that should include risk assessment, a process control, employee training and verification procedures. So what I'm going to do for you today, Patrick, is I'm going to sort of go through each of those step by step and we can have a talk through what that might look like. So the first would be. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   2:03
OK. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   2:06
Risk assessment. So we need to start with a thorough hazard analysis.
So identifying where all the allergens are on site, so whether it's peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, soya, wheat, fish, shellf, shellfish or sesame. So what are the allergens on site? Where are they and how are they used at each step in the facility? So where is it introduced to the product? Where is it stored? And so on and then we need to assess the cross contamination risks at each step.
So are there risks involved with receiving the goods coming in storing them?
Using them and packing them so every single step. So it's Farah Hassett based hazard analysis for the allergens.
The next step is segregation and zoning, so dedicated production lines are really good, particularly for the particularly high risk allergens like peanuts. A dedicated production line, or even dedicated equipment for allergen containing products where possible.
And zones also good, so separate allergen and non allergen physical areas buried maybe different PPE you could wear.
Scheduling is also really important.
So you could run non allergen products 1st and then allergen containing products. So for example in my time working in Reddi Mills we used to run products that didn't contain fish first on the production line. So if it was for example a mash potato pie line, we would run cottage pie shepherd's pie and then the fish pie would be the last one of the day that goes on that line. And then overnight that line is then deep cleaned.
So scheduling also has a part to play.
And there's an area that I know that you're very, very familiar with, Patrick and that's supplier controls. So we sourced ingredients from approved suppliers with urgent control programmes, obviously detailed specifications and allergen declarations from the supplier, make sure they're reviewed regularly whenever there's a change and all the team suppliers if necessary. And if there's a risk that's highlighted. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   4:21
Yeah. I mean, I think that's that's a really good point. I said right at the top of this piece that we were concentrating on areas that manufacturers can control and perhaps supplier control is one that's less within their ability to to manage. But actually there are things that you can do and that there are platforms that you can use. There are mechanisms that you can put in place. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   4:24
None. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   4:48
For looking at supply supply performance and I'm going to plug my own work here. Work here because this is very often the nature of these events.
But waver on the platform calls Horizon scan and what Horizon scan does is updates global food issues every day. So if you're using a particular supplier from a particular country and a particular commodity, you can actually set and configure a search so that you'll get a report with updated data every day on any issues that have happened within that commodity.
So if somebody has found, I don't know, chilli powder from India.
With illegal dies in it, or mycotoxins in pin up products. Or as we're saying, peanut in mustard or conversely, has happened previous to that must have been peanut. So if there are ingredients that you're particularly interested in and our key raw materials to your production, you can use horizon scan to actually configure searches that are.
Particular to your operation and what it does is it give you an early warning.
Of current issues, but also emerging issues, things that perhaps you haven't thought of and things that you might need to include in your risk assessment. So yeah, suppliers don't don't always give you the opportunity to manage everything they do, but there are things that you can do to make sure that you only work with reputable suppliers and give yourself an early warning to any issues that there might be as well.
So yeah. Thank you, Heather. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   6:28
OK. And the next sort of part of this allergen control Jigsaw really is about people. They're actually one of your biggest, biggest weapons against allergen contamination, particularly employee training. So training staff on allergen risks, cross contact prevention.
Emphasising the importance of cleaning hygiene and handling protocols.
And colour coding or labelling systems where you disting distinguish which allergen tools and areas people can use.
Training is a massive a massive weapon that we got sorry, not weapon defence in allergen contamination.
And I think Debs is going to talk a little bit about allergen training. 
Deborah Matthews  Intertek   7:20
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks. Ever. As you say, training is is very, very important.
We have our own.
Training that we do, either via classroom so we can come to your site.
And do training or we have virtual training that we can run as well. We have those as public courses. But if a company would like to basically on the the the virtual cost then.
And if people, we can do it as a, as a virtual cost just for their company and it also can be tailored little bit towards them.
We have wise tail as well, which is a company within inter tech.
With various different online courses so you can do this online and within your own time as well. So there's various different courses you can put that as part of an induction or or part of a new process coming in where you can actually have to complete and have proof that you've done certain courses. So.
There's various different ways that you can do it, but training is incredibly important, so it's something that that every company really needs to to look at and take seriously. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   8:37
Yeah, that thing, that's a really good point, Debbie, to be honest. And one of the things that listeners will possibly know.
Is that the latest version of the Codex and the way that it influences?
Has of production and Hassa assessments. There's a much bigger focus on culture, safety, culture particularly, and I think with that in mind, the training that you do in the way that it's delivered and the difference between training.
Which is what you deliver an education, which is what people take away from. It is really important and and I absolutely agree with Heather and I think you're right. Heather is a weapon in our defence against both proof fraud and in this particular discussion, allegiance. So thank you both for that. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   9:25
OK, so so the next part of the list that I've come up with for you today is labelling controls. So one of the biggest causes of allergen recourse in the UK is due to the wrong labels being put onto products. So ensuring accurate, compliant labelling of all allergens on the finished product packaging. 
Deborah Matthews  Intertek   9:25
You're welcome. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   9:50
Checking your artwork and labelling label systematically as part of your quality control, so it's really important.
For example, when you're changing over to a new product. So if we were moving from cottage pie to fish pie to make sure that all the cottage pie packaging is properly put away and cleared from the line before we start producing fish Pikes, the last thing that we want is fish pies going out with a cottage pie label because you're then sending fish allergen out that's not been labelled up as fish. And that could become quite an issue to.
Someone who's allergic to fish.
So labelling controls and a final check before the product is released to catch any labelling errors. So this is where we have the supervisor signing off to say yes, the line is clear. I'm happy that we've used we've produced 400 pies and we've used 400 sleeves to label them with. So it all adds up and then.
Cleaning and sanitation. So we're going to have to use a validated cleaning procedures between allergen and non allergen runs, perform visual inspections and allergen swab tests or rapid protein test to verify effectiveness and document all cleaning procedures and verification results.
And I'm going to link straight into the last part or one of the last parts because it's all about testing.
And I'm sure in a minute, Debbie will help us talk about some testing that we can do. But part of the testing is also verification and validation of that cleaning and those processes. So regularly testing for allergen residues. So Eliza swabs or finished product testing, conducting internal audits and traceability tests and reviewing complaints and incidents to improve your processes.
So lots and lots of testings to make sure that it actually works. 
Deborah Matthews  Intertek   11:48
Absolutely. And you can do your own testing as we know on site there are kits that you can use and that will give you an immediate result. But if you want to get a third party verification that can test this for you, then you know something like Intertek, we have labs we can send kits out and they can come back and we can test them. So that you we're actually verifying that.
The you know the cleaning is adequate. There's no.
Residue left of anything that could potentially harm somebody we keep using fish as an example, so you know, if we if we've been doing the fish pie, we need to make sure before we start the next production run that everything's clear and there's no residue left. So it's all again something that's really, really important. You can do it yourself, but it's always good to get.
Third party verification on that. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   12:48
I tend to agree as a as a veteran of labs and and proponent of of labs everywhere and.
I think it is important to have you clean and validated and do that regularly. Have a due diligence system. I would extend that to raw material, testing and testing of finished products and there are a number of reasons for this. We talked about supplier control and things that are outside of your control, but it's not outside of your control.
To do regular raw material testing for for key allergens, sometimes based on horizon scan data or known industry issues. And this again is something that we can help with is helping you put together a due diligence plan based on the risk of what you carry on site, but also the risks of things that you don't mitigate or the things that you don't plan for.
So we can actually look at swab testing, raw material testing and finished product testing.
As a whole, due diligence programme and I think that gives you very strong due diligence defence if anything happens, if you have all that historical data in place. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   14:06
Right. So the final part, you'll be pleased to know is coming up now and that is documentation. So you need to have a documented allergen plan. So a written plan covering all of the things we've already mentioned and it's got to be integrated into your hassop or your food safety management system. So whether that's BRCGS or ISO 22,000, whichever system you're using.
And one thing that I keep saying on all the webinars and podcasts that I've done so far, if it's not written down, it didn't happen.
So keep records of traceability and for inspection. So keep your record written retal records of your line cleaning records of your testing record. Record it, record it. Record it. Because if you haven't got it written down and you haven't got it on a piece of paper or on a computer record, it didn't happen. So you need to make sure you've got your records and you can.
Have this challenge tested so we can actually look at all of your allergen management.
Through a magnifying glass and check it and check it for robustness through the brcgs allergen module that we can offer. Is that correct, Debs? 
Deborah Matthews  Intertek   15:20
It is absolutely and it's a really easy way to to have this chest checked and again validated by third party. So if you've got the BRCGS food version nine, there is a module, an allergen module, that you can bolt on. It means that you do the whole audit together. There's not a separate visit.
So it's it's no extra visits for yourself and all this goes in the report. And again, you've got that third party verification.
That shows that you are, you know, conducting due diligence and you are checking and making sure that there's allergen well, it's as free as as it can be and you're doing everything correctly. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   16:11
That's brilliant. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek   16:13
I think there's some some excellent points made throughout there, and I think it's important to do that thorough risk assessment from supplier control through the production process, through packaging, all the way to dispatch to sale.
There's one other point I probably would would add and I think a particularly.
Sort of emergent risk really based on the the times in which we live. And that's kind of the need sometimes to source new suppliers or new markets for products and that may be through.
Climate change and severe weather events it might be geopolitical unrest or blocking of.
The normal trade routes through Suez or Panama and these things can be disruptive to the supply chain.
But that can also introduce allergen risk if you don't manage any changes in the right way. So if you're looking to source from a new supplier and these things are always urgent, they always are to maintain production. Or if you're looking to sell products in a new market, I would urge you to contact us because Intertech launched supply tech.
Specifically, to help people do that, and the way that it works is not that we give you.
A whole range of services and say ick what you want. It's that we sit down with you and explain what we can do to help with your particular situation. We listened to exactly what you want to achieve, market you want to enter raw materials, you want to source countries you want to operate in and we look at the end to end process and we do a holistic risk assessment to support that.
So if you are interested in supply tech.
Or did any of the services that we've talked about in the session today, you can contact us directly because we're nice people and we'd all love to speak to you or you can head over to intertech.com/food or intertech.com/supplytech.
I think we're pretty much out of time. But Deborah, Heather, thank you both for joining me today, taking the time out to speak to us. 
Deborah Matthews  Intertek   18:36
No, thank you. 
Heather Hayward  Intertek   18:37
Thank you. 
Patrick McNamara  Intertek Transkription beendet